Friday, July 10, 2015

Tasting my way through Taste of Chicago

So, yesterday hubby and I made our way down to Grant Park for the Taste of Chicago. I hadn't been there in a few years, so I was eager to head down and see what had changed and what yummy smells, sights and tastes awaited me.

When I picked up my media pass, I got a "Find Your Taste" Tour with a diverse listing of places to sample, grouped in the following:

Classic Chicago Taste

Epicurean Taste

Sweet Tooth Taste

Taste of the Sea

World Tour Taste

So, I set out on my little foodie scavenger hunt to obtain "taste portions" from several vendors, which included booths, pop-up restaurants and food trucks. I was on a mission. I didn't want to leave until I had visited all 16. And I met my goal - well, I hit 15 and that's only because the last one was a pop-up restaurant that was there on Friday only. At several of them I tried two taste portions and I bought additional tickets to try out a few others that weren't on my list. In all, I tried 28 things before we headed out the gates. So, here's a rundown of what I tried (my favorites are in BOLD) and scroll down a little more for some delicious visuals:

Eli's Cheesecake - Booth 15

Key lime cheesecake

Original cheesecake

Gino's Steaks - Food Truck

Steak & Cheese Sandwich Mini

Chicken & Cheese Sandwich Mini

Miller's Pub - Booth 31

Pulled Pork Slider

Bruges Brothers - Food Truck

Papas Bravas

Chicago's Dog House - Booth 7

Smoked Alligator Sausage

Rattlesnake and Rabbit Sausage

Farmer's Fridge - Booth 6

Avocado Toast

Watermelon Gazpacho

Cafe Gelato - Booth 34

Lemon Sorbet

Peach Cobbler Gelato

Churro Factory - Booth 12

Churritos

Chocolate Ice Cream

Chicago Cupcake - Food Truck

Creme Brûlée Mini Cupcake

Birthday Cake Mini Cupcake

BJ's Market and Bakery - Booth 17

Mustard-Fried Catfish

Apple Crumble

Luke's Lobster - Pop-up

1/3 crab roll

Mayoless slaw

La Mexican - Booth 3

Watermelon Mini Paleta

Star of Siam - Booth 19

Pad Thai Noodles

Pot Stickers

Vee-Vee's African Restaurant - Booth 13

Red Beans & Rice with Jerk Chicken

Yum Dum - Food Truck

Crispy Rice Baowich

Kim cheesy Rice Balls

I also had to have a slice of sausage pizza from Lou Malnati's and grabbed a 1/2 of a cheezeborger from Billy Goat and a slice of Eli's original with strawberry topping for the road.

The Taste runs through Sunday. Get over there while you can and try out a ton of delicious tastes of this great city in one place. It was an incredibly beautiful day in Grant Park, too, one of the most lovely places to take in a day in Chicago.